Air quality rating causes South Dakota to sue

EPA earns ire of three other states

Sep. 19, 2013

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Monitoring locations

South Dakota has five monitoring stations for air quality. The EPA says the state does not gather sufficient data to make a determination about Clean Air Act compliance. The monitoring stations are in Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Badlands National Park and two in Union County, where an oil refinery was planned but has not materialized.

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South Dakota’s own monitors suggest the air is clean in all 66 counties, but federal regulators want more data on sulfur dioxide levels.

Worried that the Environmental Protection Agency’s refusal to give South Dakota its stamp of approval will hurt the state’s business climate, Attorney General Marty Jackley is joining a lawsuit that seeks to force the EPA’s hand. Jackley announced Thursday that he has signed onto a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in North Dakota, joining that state, Texas and Nevada as plaintiffs.

“They’re refusing to act even though they acknowledge that South Dakota is meeting the standards,” Jackley said. “I think that’s the frustrating part of this.”

The South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources has air quality monitors in five locations. Monitoring specialist Brad Schultz said the DENR was able to determine in 2011 that the entire state was meeting the EPA’s hourly sulfur dioxide air quality standards.

“Our data shows that we are in compliance,” Schultz said.

Instead of finding the state was in compliance with the Clean Air Act, however, the EPA in February issued a set of documents laying out a strategy for improving air quality monitoring throughout the country because the agency felt many areas lacked adequate monitoring capabilities. The strategy calls for new data requirements to be finalized in 2014, state air agencies to submit an updated monitoring plan in 2016 and final designations to be made in 2020.

“This strategy is designed to ensure that attainment designations are based on accurate information about air quality. EPA has been collecting extensive feedback from states and the public as we move forward on a flexible plan,” EPA Region 8 spokesman Rich Mylott said by email.

Mylott said the agency is aware of the lawsuit and will be evaluating it. So far, the EPA has not designated any area of the United States as meeting the sulfur dioxide standards, which were revised in 2010. However, 29 areas in 16 states were found to be in violation of the standards July 25.

Without a clean air designation, South Dakota’s DENR could be in a tough spot when it comes to determining what limits to impose on businesses seeking emissions permits, Air Quality Program Administrator Brian Gustafson said.

“It kind of puts us in an unknown quandary,” Schultz said.

Gustafson said another concern is that industrial employers looking at South Dakota as a potential location would have a more difficult time determining what their emissions requirements would be if they located here. That could lead them to look elsewhere, he said.

“It’s hard for industries to determine where they stand,” Gustafson said.

Jackley agreed that without a determination of compliance from the EPA, businesses may suffer.

“The inaction on the part of the EPA is affecting small businesses,” Jackley said. “Those standards impact the decisions businesses make.”